According to Billboard, a multi-episode Kanye West documentary is reportedly coming to Netflix in 2021. A source told the publication that the streaming service might have paid two filmmakers up to $30 million for the film. Another source has disputed the $30 million price tag reported by Billboard and told Variety that figure was inaccurate.
Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, who directed Kanye’s videos for “Through The Fire” and “Jesus Walks (Version 3),” have co-directed the documentary that will feature never-before-seen footage of Kanye in the untitled project that was 21 years in the making. The series will be driven by Simmons’s relationship with the artist he has been filming since the 1990s in Chicago.
Viewers can expect to learn about Yeezy’s childhood; his rise to superstardom; the death of his mother, Donda West in 2007; his contributions to the fashion industry; his run for the presidency in 2020 and more. It is unclear as to whether or not the decline of his marriage to influencer and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian will be featured in the film.
Yeezy first got his start in the music industry as a producer and became well known for his production on Jay-Z’s 2001 “The Blueprint” album. From there, he went on the producing other artists and eventually released a string of solo albums that garnered critical acclaim like, “The College Dropout,” “Late Registration,” and “Graduation.”
West has stirred up a number of controversies over his two decades in the public eye. In 2015, during a television fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina victims, he proclaimed that then-President George W. Bush did not care about Black people. In 2009, at the MTV Video Music Awards, he stole the microphone from Taylor Swift to acknowledge that Beyonce had the best video of all time. Then in 2018, he said 400 years of slavery in America was a “choice” – just to name a few of his antics.
The upcoming documentary is just one of many coming through this year in next. So far this year Tina Turner, Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Billie Eilish have all had documentaries. Janet Jackson will have one coming in 2022.
Representatives for Netflix did not offer comments on West’s documentary.
